Today, Remedy published a brand-new FBC Firebreak Community First Look video, recorded during the press and influencer event at the office.
Kickstarting early at 7:30am, the studio would see over 100 individuals attend their physical and virtual events, with the embargo on the first hands-on previews later lifting on May 14th. Ahead of doors opening on the final day, Mike Kayatta (Game Director), Anssi Hyytiäinen (Lead Designer) and Julius Fondem (Community Manager) talked about the final few weeks of development as things heat up for the launch.
The video also takes viewers on a mini tour of the press area set inside the motion capture studio for the two-week event. Designed for the Paper Chase Job, the rooms are designed to mimic the FBC, complete with oil paintings, cardboard document boxes, and a mental locker complete with Ahti, Jesse, and Darling's outfits. The entire area has also been covered with sticky notes, in keeping with the theme, secured with a heavier adhesive. Centred in the room, with three computer setups surrounding it, is a 3D-printed traffic light "Red Light" Corrupted Item for ambiance. You can see the full tour in the YouTube short on the Remedy Channel, HERE.
With certain elements now confirmed, the developers are more freely able to talk about aspects such as the number of Jobs available at launch (five), as well as Corrupted Items, and Crisis Kits.
Check out the video below or on the Remedy YouTube Channel, HERE. Plus, scroll down for a full transcript.
Mike Kayatta: So much has been going on over the last few months. We are tired, we are excited, we are nervous, we are pushing through all of it.You're here in our event space, which we've just built inside of our actual MoCap studio for a lot of visiting members of the press, for different content creators, YouTubers, etc to come and try the game, get their hands on. Of course, we've been upstairs at the studio working every day, pushing in as many features as we can, all to hit that big release on June 17th. With a small team, it has definitely been a challenge,but we are getting there and we are on track and we cannot wait to share this with you all.
Thomas Puha: Okay.
Mike Kayatta: That's something.
Thomas Puha: That was it.
Mike Kayatta: All right.
Thomas Puha: Like, energy, yet like...so this is must feel for like a great Director.
[Introduction Plays]
Mike Kayatta: One of the really great things about FBC: Firebreak is that it is a systems-led game. And that means that we build lots and lots of different pieces, and we assemble them together, and with that machine can kind of produce these unexpected, magical moments for the player. And me having worked on this game for years as the Game Director, I can't even describe how wonderful it is to look over the shoulder of somebody playing and actually see something that I didn't even know could happen in this game and watch them get surprised, and me kind of more secretly get surprised right behind them.
Julius Fondem: On top of the thirty-six people that we've had playing here live, we've also had around eighty or so people playing remotely all across the world. And that has been an endeavour, to say the least. We've had to send Steam keys to these people across the world, making sure that they're playing at the same time and you can imagine how challenging that is across different time zones. And making sure that our custom hands-on build that we've made for this specific event is working for everyone well across the world.
Mike Kayatta: We tend to think of the five Jobs we'll be shipping at launch as modes. And these modes are customizable in three key ways. The first one is called Threat Level. Now, Threat Level is going to dictate the intensity of combat; that means enemy types, how often the waves are hitting. The second one is Clearance. Now, Clearance is all about session length. Are you playing one zone, two zone, three zones? Do you have five minutes to game or thirty? And finally, is something that we call Corruption. Now, Corruption is all about randomization and modifying the experience. That means you're not going to know where to find certain things, certain behaviours inside of the games are going to change. And then the most fun of all, that's where we introduce Corrupted Items.
Anssi Hyytiäinen: So, the way you design Corrupted Items is that we take all the ideas we have, we put them into a bag, and we take out the totally unrealistic ones, and then we do the one that's left.
Mike Kayatta: When you turn on Corruption, you're going to run into Corrupted Items invading different zones. And these things can do all sorts of stuff. We have one that makes all the enemies go faster. We have another one that lessens the gravity. And we even have this guy (points to a blinking traffic light behind him) who when the light is red, you're not allowed to move. It's crazy. And up to you whether or not you want to take them out and invest that time to get extra rewards, or just deal with the effect and keep on pushing through.
Mike Kayatta: Perks are special abilities that you can equip onto your Crisis Kits that change your build in all sorts of interesting and unique ways. Each Perk that you unlock, you can level up three times. Third level, it's the strongest effect. You can start sharing that effect with other players through what we call the Resonance System. Now, this is the same system that powers your shields. And as long as all three of you are together, that means you could all be sharing your Perk effects at the same time for some seriously crazy group builds.
Julius Fondem: So we're getting very close to the launch of FBC: Firebreak. And on day one, you'll be able to enjoy five Jobs together with your friends. On top of that, we're releasing two Jobs this year for free for all owners of FBC: Firebreak. All of our playable post-launch content will be free. See you on June 17th, whether that be on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X and S.
[Post-Credits Scene]
Mike Kayatta: (Armed with a mop, clearing up fallen sticky notes) Ugh, these influencers. Messing up my mocap studio.
Julius Fondem: (Walking past, pats his shoulder semi-supportively) You missed a spot.
Mike Kayatta: Yeah.
